The Missed Birthday
by Loveon
Summary: When Diamond and Pearl realize that they missed Lady's birthday, they hurry to their visiting Dex Holders for help. Birthday fic for Platinum/sort of Halloween fic.


Author's Notes: Platinum's birthday was yesterday, I noticed as I read the last volume of the Pokemon Adventures Platinum arc. I promptly decided to give a shot at writing a one-shot, which I rarely do unless it's crack. I'm not used to writing one-shots... It's not my strong point.

I have to say, I think I like how this turned out. It was longer than I expected it would be, though.

Pearl's the main character in this one. I'm not used to writing Platinum's personality (not to mention that I haven't written any Pokespe stuff in over a year. Not counting that fic I started a week or so ago and then deleted because it was bad.) I also have no idea on the proper way for Pearl, Diamond, and Platinum to refer to the senior Dex Holders. I've seen others using "Senior (name)", so I went with that, although it's a bit unnatural sounding.

So I present to you my "Platinum's Birthday _and_ Halloween one-shot!"

* * *

><p><strong>The Missed Birthday<strong>

It was the day before Halloween. The trees all around Twinleaf were colored orange and yellow, leaves falling from their branches and landing to the earth below.

Pearl stepped out of his house and stretched out his arms. He had asked his senior Pokédex Holders if he could observe them in a battle today, so now he was heading for Jubilife City, where they were staying on a brief vacation to visit them in Sinnoh.

He noticed a boy leaving a different house just then. A smile spread across his face. "Hey, Dia, guess what? Seniors Red and Green offered to-"

The panicked look on Diamond's face made him stop his sentence. The two ran to each other, Pearl wondering what had Dia looking so pale and nervous.

"Dia, what's wrong? Dia? Diamond!"

"It's terrible, Pearl!" he said.

"What is?!"

"Well, you remember how we got those papers that detailed each of the Pokédex Holders?"

Pearl thought. He, Lady, and Diamond had received a stack of papers before their seniors had arrived here. Those papers also included themselves, and their newly attained titles from Professor Oak himself.

"What about it?"

"Lady's birthday," Diamond said. "It was a few days ago, and we completely missed it!"

Pearl felt his blood run cold. They had missed Lady's birthday? This was bad. He had never even known when her birthday was. The rich heiress of the Berlitz family had never bothered to tell them about it.

She might have acted like she didn't care, but Pearl was sure that missing her birthday was a big deal. They had probably missed it a year ago, too, when they were traveling around Sinnoh. But they had celebrated Diamond's and Pearl's birthdays after the journey was over...

But they had gone and completely forgotten about Platinum's birthday. The fact that he had never even thought about when her birthday was pained Pearl. Some friend he was.

"Change of plans, Dia," Pearl said. "Let's get our seniors help."

* * *

><p>"Wait... Which one was Platinum again?"<p>

Pearl stared in disbelief as Senior Red turned to his other friends. Senior Green was staring at him in the same way.

"Red," he said, "there are three of them. Diamond and Pearl are here with us now. So which one is Platinum?"

Red frowned. "...Er. Oh! The girl, right? Did I get it right?"

Everyone groaned.

"You missed her birthday?" Blue asked. She had a concerned look on her face. "That's a big deal. Missing a girl's birthday is serious. You can just ask Gold about that."

"Yeah, I've got the bruises from Super Serious Gal to proof it," Gold said.

"Don't call me that!" Crystal snapped.

"So what should we do?" Pearl asked. "Can we still make it up to her? Or is it too late?"

"It was only a few days ago, right? I think there's still time," Red said.

Pearl didn't want to be rude, but he felt like advice from Red on things like this couldn't really be trusted.

"Hmm... I've got an idea," Blue said.

Green rolled his eyes. "Great," he muttered.

"Leave all the party planning to me, Pearl," Blue said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You and Diamond just think about what present you're going to get for her, all right?"

"Really?"

Blue winked. "Really! Now, those Pokégears we brought as meeting gifts for you guys? I'm going to call either you or Diamond on the meeting place once I decide. Be sure to answer it!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

><p>"Ohh, what should we get her?" Diamond asked. He was clearly still panicking about this.<p>

"I don't know," Pearl said. Then an idea popped in his head. "We could make her something."

"Like what?"

"A necklace."

"From what, Pearl?"

"I don't know, macaroni?"

Diamond frowned. "Pearl, we can't give her that! She's a lady... She needs to have something worthy of her. Something elegant, refined... Something for a princess!"

Pearl stared at his friend. Why was he only just now noticing that Diamond was a bit infatuated with Lady?

"It's not like we have money to get an expensive gift," Pearl said. He scratched the back of his head. "Man, this is tough... Oh, I got it!"

"What is it?"

"Let's ask Senior Gold for help! He seems like he's popular with girls, so maybe he'll know what to do!"

* * *

><p>"A gift for that Platinum girl? Welllll, if you ask me, I'd say you get her some clothes."<p>

"Clothes?"

"Yeah. Like, say, a nurse outfit."

Pearl stared at Gold, unsure if he'd heard that correctly.

Dia confirmed his suspicions. "A... nurse outfit?"

"With cat ears," Gold said.

"...What?"

"And thigh-highs," Gold continued.

Pearl wished he knew what to say. The worst part was that an image of that costume on Lady was appearing in his mi- NO. GET OUT OF HIS MIND. STAY OUT.

"And then, once she's wearing it, you can ask her to-"

Seniors Crystal and Silver were running towards them from across the room. Silver punched Gold in the head, while Crystal kicked him in the side.

"What do you think you're doing to a couple of innocent kids?!"

"I was just giving them gift ideas!"

"Well how about you don't do that anymore," Silver said.

Crystal placed her hands on her hips and turned to Diamond and Pearl. "Don't ever ask him for advice. He's just going to be a pervy freak like he usually is."

"Oh..."

"So you need a present for your friend, right?" Crystal smiled. "What does she like?"

Diamond and Pearl looked at each other. "Well," Pearl said, "she _did_ say she used to read ten books a day..."

"Then get her a book!"

"Boring," Gold said. "Unless, of course, it's a magazine that you can't get unless you're-"

Silver punched him again.

* * *

><p>Pearl lay on his bed. He turned to look at the book he had bought Lady. He had no idea what kinds of books she liked, so he managed to find an encyclopedia about Pokémon species in the region of Unova. He had no idea where Unova was, and couldn't think of a single Pokémon from the region. So he assumed that'd be a good book for her.<p>

He wondered what kind of book Dia had gotten for Lady. Dia had refused to show him what the book was, insisting that it was a secret.

Pearl hoped desperately it wasn't a manga adaptation of his favorite anime Proteam Omega.

* * *

><p>The phone call came later that night. Pearl answered his Pokégear, finding that the caller ID read "Your Fabulous Senior Blue". Grimacing, he answered the Pokégear.<p>

"Pearl?"

"Yes, Senior Blue?"

"I want you to meet up in Hearthome City tomorrow at eight."

"In the morning?"

"Nope! At night."

Pearl frowned. Hearthome City, eight PM, on Halloween night? It was sure to be crowded. But he agreed to the meeting spot, positive that Senior Blue would have everything under control.

* * *

><p>Pearl arrived with Diamond ten minutes earlier than the meeting time, but the other Dex Holders were already there in front of the Pokémon Center. Pearl wondered where Lady was.<p>

Senior Blue seemed to read his mind as he and Dia approached. "I told her to meet us here in an hour and a half."

Hopefully Lady wouldn't arrive early.

"Now, let's head on to the true location!" Blue declared. "Everyone, follow me!"

As they followed the brown-haired girl down the crowded street, Pearl looked around at his seniors. The ones named Ruby and Sapphire were arguing about presents, while Emerald told the two to just "kiss already", to which they yelled at him in unison for.

Meanwhile, with Gold, Silver, and Crystal...

"You better not have gotten her something weird, Gold," Crystal was saying.

"Relax! Stop expecting the worst from me."

"Gee, now I wonder why we always expect that."

Green was being completely silent as Red babbled to Yellow about his gift: "I heard girls like dolls, so I got her a Snorlax plushie! Think she'll like it?"

Yellow giggled, cheeks tinted with a blush that Red was completely oblivious to because, it had to be said, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. "I'm sure she will."

Pearl gulped. Was the present he got for Lady good enough? She would like it, wouldn't she?

"Now, how fast can one of you bake a cake?" Blue asked, looking back at Pearl and Diamond.

Green snapped, "You didn't get a cake?! You told them you had everything under control!"

Blue ignored him. "Diamond, I heard you're a _great_ cook," she said. "How fast can you bake a cake?"

"Um... I could probably get it done in 30 minutes. Decorating it, on the other hand..."

"Oh, leave that to Ruby," Blue said. "Unless he's only good with clothes... Ruby! Can you decorate a cake?"

"Of _course_ I can."

"There you have it. No, wait... How fast can you decorate a cake?"

"Cake decorating takes time. It depends on how big the cake is and what you want to be done."

They reached a little building that Pearl recognized. Diamond had come here before and made Poffins for their Pokémon, way back when they entered that contest.

"Is this where we're having the party?" Diamond asked.

"Of course not. This is where you're going to bake. We're having the party in Amity Square."

Amity Square... where exactly was that?

"Also," Blue said, and a wide grin spread across her face. Pearl decided instantly that he did not like that grin at all.

"Since it's Halloween, everyone should dress up a bit. Don't have a costume? Oh, look at what I have here, it's a vampire boy costume!... Huh? Why are some of you running? Hey, stop-!"

* * *

><p>Pearl stood in an emptied out Amity Square. He didn't know how she'd done it, but Senior Blue had emptied the place of people.<p>

He wasn't the only one who thought it was odd.

"Blue, what did you do?" Green asked her.

"You'll have to be more specific," Blue said, checking Emerald measurements for the Mightyena costume he was to wear.

"How did you empty this place of people on a Halloween night?"

"You make it sound like I did something shady... Which I totally did," she said with a cackle.

"_What did you do?_"

Blue ignored him. "Ruby, here are Emerald's measurements! Alter the costume, please!"

Pearl was already wearing his costume. According to Blue, it was a vampire boy costume; a white shirt with a few too many frills (which Ruby had added himself for some bizarre reason), black pants, and a black cape. Blue had also given him a pair of fangs to put in his mouth. It made it difficult to talk, so he kept his mouth shut.

Diamond had yet to arrive. Even though he'd said the cake would only take a half hour, it had been longer than that. It was almost 9:30. Soon Lady would be arriving, and how would she react if Dia was missing?

"Here comes Ruby and Diamond," Silver said. "And... oh, no."

Pearl looked. His mouth dropped open. Not only did he see what had taken so longer – there were three differently sized cakes stacked up on top of each other, but he also saw the cake decorations.

It was... colorful, to say the least. The icing was more than seven colors, and there were odd things like ribbons and curls added to the cake. But there were flags and figures on the cake as well.

When Pearl got closer to the cake, he saw that a face had been painted onto the top of the cake. It took Pearl longer than it should have to realize that the face was supposed to be Lady's.

"Er... W-who drew that face?" Yellow asked. "Diamond...?"

"I only baked it," Diamond said. "And added the figures. See, this one is a robot from Proteam Omega-"

"DIA, TAKE IT OFF," Pearl ordered.

"I drew the face," Ruby said.

"What did ya do to that cake?!" Sapphire asked. "It looks like someone just went and puked up random colors all over it! Ya said you could decorate cakes!"

"I _can_ decorate cakes," Ruby said. "Anyone can decorate a cake. Even you, a barbarian, could decorate a cake. It's just the matter on the skill level that-"

"What do ya mean, a barbarian?"

"See the way you're acting? Barbarian."

"I think it looks nice," Blue said. "See, look. He incorporated the colors of our names into the icing. Red, blue, green, yellow..."

Now that she mentioned it, Pearl could see that...

It still looked horrible, though, and he wanted the robot figures gone.

"Here comes the girl," Silver said.

"Crap! She's early? Silver, Pearl, stall her!"

Pearl rushed after Silver. Then Pearl saw Lady, approaching the area. She was dressed in black dress with a cape, a black, pointed hat, and held a broom in one hand.

She smiled as they approached. "Good evening, Pearl," she said. "I'm glad I got the location right. I had no idea where Amity Square was. I had to ask Miss Blue for directions."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Pearl said. "Um..."

He had no idea what to say. He turned to the red-haired boy beside him, who was not dressed up just yet. And was remaining silent.

"Where is everybody else?" Lady asked. "Miss Blue told me to arrive in a costume. I have never been to a costume party before... Or dressed up for Halloween. I've read about it, though. Did you know, it was originally-"

And Lady launched into an explanation on the origins of Halloween. Pearl pretended to be interested, but on the inside, he was panicking. She was acting totally normal, even though she knew he had forgotten her birthday.

He wondered how long he had to keep her occupied.

"All right, Pearl, Silver! That's good enough!" Blue called from further on.

A look of confusion spread over Lady's face. "Good enough?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Silver stepped up behind her and covered Lady's eyes. He nodded at Pearl. "Lead the way."

Pearl led the way forwards, through the narrow path and out into the park that was Amity Square. Now he saw that a table had been set up in record time, with the cake sitting on top of it, surrounded by presents wrapped in various colors of wrapping paper.

He saw that the robot figures were still on the cake. That Dia...

Silver uncovered Lady's eyes. Pearl spun around and shouted with everyone else.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Lady looked shocked. Her mouth was a tiny o as she looked around at everyone, blinking occasionally.

"I... I am shocked," she said. "But... today is the 31st of October. My birthday was on the 27th..."

"We know," Blue said. "We're very sorry for missing your birthday, so Diamond and Pearl gathered us and made this party just for you!"

Pearl scratched the side of his head. Dia, dressed in white bandages in what was supposed to be sort of mummy-type creature, hurried to join him.

"Hi, Lady! Happy birthday!" Dia said.

Pearl nodded. "Dia here was the one who noticed when your birthday was. If he hadn't, this party would have never happened."

"I see...," Platinum said. "...I'm... very happy."

Diamond and Pearl exchanged a grin. "Then you don't mind that we kind of missed your birthday, Lady?" Diamond asked.

"I don't mind. I never told you, so I didn't expect you to know. And now, having this birthday will all of you here... I am glad."

"Well, let's start with the cake first, then the presents!" Gold said.

The cake was delicious, if one got past its odd appearance. Everyone complimented Dia, making the boy clearly happy.

They started in with the presents after everyone had ate.

Red, as he had mentioned to Yellow, had given Lady a Snorlax plushie that was larger in size than Pearl had expected.

Blue had given her a set of evolution stones.

Green gave her a pamphlet on famous places to visit in Kanto and Johto. Blue had frowned at his gift and told him that it was boring. Green called her a pesky girl, and Silver glared at him for some reason that Pearl didn't understand.

As Yellow gave Lady a straw hat, Pearl pulled Diamond over to the side. "Dia, I've got an idea."

"Like what?"

Gold and Emerald gave Lady a sparkling necklace that looked incredibly expensive. Crystal looked at them, then the necklace, in shock.

"Where did you get the money for that gift?!"

"Heheh... We pooled our resources together, is all," Gold said.

"Please tell me you didn't steal it," Silver groaned.

"Hey! We paid for this with our own money!"

"The question is where you got that much money from," Ruby said.

"Gold, if you did something weird to Emerald-"

"We just gambled a bit in Veilstone," Emerald said. "We traded in our coins for prizes."

"Gambling-"

Silver gave Lady a guide on evolving Pokémon ("BORING!" Gold had shouted, and Silver had punched him).

Crystal gave Lady a hand-written guide on capturing Pokémon, along with several Poké Balls. ("EVEN MORE BORING!" Gold had shouted, and Crystal kicked him.)

Lady's gift from Ruby was an entire outfit that he had made himself. He then offered to adjust the outfit's sizing before he took out a tape measure and began measuring Lady's body.

After Sapphire screeched at him to leave her alone, she gave her a painting that she claimed to have done with her Pokémon using berry juices. Ironically, she seemed to have more artistic talent than Ruby had with that cake. Pearl secretly thought that the cake would have looked better had she gotten her hands on it.

Then it came time for Diamond and Pearl's gifts. Pearl picked up the heavy encyclopedia, wrapped in Piplup-themed wrapping paper. "Er, it's nothing special," he said as she unwrapped it.

"An encyclopedia on Unova Pokémon?"

"You said you read a lot, so I just... got that, and..."

Lady smiled. "Thank you, Pearl. Father and Professor Rowan have been wanting me to go to Unova for them and study the Pokémon there... This guide just may help me with that task."

The thought of Lady leaving for a far-off region frightened Pearl a bit. As Diamond gave Lady his gift, he shook his head. She could last by herself. He didn't need to be worri-

Diamond had gotten her the first three volumes of a Proteam Omega adaptation.

"DIA-!"

"Thank you, Diamond," Lady said. Her cheeks turned slightly red. "Thank you, everyone... I love everything that you have given me..."

"And we have a special surprise for you!" Diamond said. He looked at Pearl, who nodded.

"Speaking of Pokémon...!"

"Speaking of Pokémon...!"

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: So many shout-outs to the entire DPPt arc in here... I REGRET NOTHING. It's my favorite arc, after all.<p>

I saw someone bring up a very good point about something: in the Japanese version, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum start their journey on September 28th. Unlike the American version of the comics (which I own) that changed the date to April 22nd. This would mean that they had already missed Platinum's birthday once. So, yeah... Thought it was worth mentioning. Wish I knew who brought that up, because I remember them having a lot of other useful information.


End file.
